Wage Growth

Online retail jumps 19 percent in April

UK online retail sales went from strength to strength in April, up 18.8 percent year-on-year (YoY) according to the latest figures. The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index showed it was the highest YoY increase since November 2016, despite the dampening effect of Easter falling in March this year. There was…

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43,000 retailers in ‘financial distress’

Nearly 43,000 retailers ended the first quarter of the year in a state of ‘significant’ financial distress, according to research from insolvency firm Begbies Traynor. Its ‘Red Flag Alert’ research for Q1 2018, which monitors the financial health of UK companies, found the number of firms in the category was…

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Retail sales expected to be ‘a little healthier’ next month

Retail sales are expected to pick up in May, according to the Distributive Trades Survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The survey of 100 firms showed that, in the year to April, retail sales volumes were broadly unchanged. Sales were below average for the time of year for…

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Retail footfall drops in February

Retail footfall decreased by 0.5 percent in February 2018, and is a major decline compared with the rate of 1.0 percent seen the previous year. According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) this figure is better than the three-month average of -2.0 percent and the twelve-month average of -0.7 percent.…

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Online retail shows signs of maturing with tough 2018 ahead, says IMRG

The rate of retail sales growth is pointing to a ‘maturing market’, figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index suggest. UK online retail sales were up 12.1% on average year-on-year (YoY) in 2017, which was lower than the IMRG’s forecast of 14%. This figures also falls short of 2016’s…

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Household finances slow UK spending growth

Consumer spending growth slowed to 2.4 percent in October as Brits cut back across the board to cope with household finances. Data from Barclaycard reveals that spending on essentials (2.9 percent) outstripped discretionary spend growth (2.2 percent) for the second month running. This slowdown in expenditure on ‘nice-to-haves’ was driven…

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National Living Wage cut profits rather than jobs

Instead of cutting jobs, employers responded to the National Living Wage (NLW) by raising prices or reducing profits, according to a new report by the Resolution Foundation. The report considers both the initial impact of the NLW and its longer term prospects in the wake of the UK’s decision to leave the…

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